“I’ve never seen the gallery this crowded”, murmured student onlookers.

 And it was. On April 5, the modest Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery room was absolutely packed with a crowd of students, faculty, and family members, all of whom had come to see the twin senior showcases of Thomas Erickson, a history and photography double major who graduates this May. I was fortunate enough to attend as both a reporter and friend of Erickson. I had been blessed with occasional sneak-peaks of what he had been working on in previous months, and remember being impressed then, even with what little I saw being relegated to a smudged laptop screen; seeing the fruition of that labor in full scale was ecstatic, to say the least.

After the crowd had thoroughly mingled, refreshed themselves, and filtered their way into the room, professor Steve Johnson, clad in a sharp suit, introduced Erickson formally, and recalled anecdotes of their time spent together in class as they prepared for the show. Erickson then took the floor, engaging the audience in explanations of his photographic process, artistic philosophy, and future dreams. Though he handled the spotlight cooly, Erickson later confided that it was far from his comfort zone: 

“I was very tense. I’m not used to all of the attention being on me. It was gratifying to see how many people came out to see my work, but that came with so much anxiety about what I was going to say, and how to explain what I wanted to get across.” After a small pause and a smile: “ I was appreciative that Steve wore a suit. Both him and Jerry helped keep me steady throughout.”

After a small Q&A segment, the crowd freely wandered the space, exploring the textures and colors of Erickson’s various works. Though I enjoyed the social aspect of the opening, I found that I struggled to really “connect” with the art while in the presence of so many other people—It just didn’t feel intimate, which I felt the work deserved if I was going to “professionally” (haha) review it. Fortunately, as it turns out, they don’t lock the doors of the gallery in the evenings, so I allotted myself an hour or so to really sink into the space and let myself experience it. These are the feelings I had during that time:

DACIAN DREAM: “I had a dream, it is faint and blurred now, faces blend into backgrounds, a city overtaken by color…” This is the opening line to the artistic statement for “Dacian Dream”, a series of pieces made of composited and heavily-edited photographs from Erickson’s time in Romania. “Most of these were taken during weekend trips to historic locations”, he shared. “It took about 4 weeks in total to get all of the photos I’d end up using for the project”. 

History and mythology are crucial themes in this exhibit. Before the Romans conquered the lands that now make up Romania, the kingdom of Dacia called it home; a nature-oriented culture whose existence still lingers through remnants of architecture, ruins, and the human mind. Erickson captures the ephemeral, mystical characteristics of this culture perfectly. Scenes of nature are warped and fit into new contexts, with swirling leaves wreathing human faces like fire. Gray sunflowers drape across distant horizons. Men in Roman garb are superimposed and solarized against a sky made of stone. It’s excellent. I’m especially impressed with just how much Erickson fits into the frame without compromising on clarity; every image is sharp and focused, with no hint of muddiness or overeditting. A fantastic, surreal exhibit. 

PANAROMACRO: As the title suggests, this showcase features photographs that utilize both macro photographic (close-up photos of very small things) and panoramic (taking multiple photos and stitching them together digitally) techniques, with the chief subject being small fungi and mosses that Erickson discovered during a day-trip to Lost River State Park. This results in a large, rectangular panoramic photograph, which Erickson then paired with another from a different location within the park. The pairings of these works creates a singular experience; one rich with shared motifs, contrast, and connection. 

This exhibit just blew me away. It’s rare that my attention is held by nature photography (sorry!), but the sheer scale that Erickson manages to capture with these photos is breathtaking.  Small mycelium networks become sprawling, spacious landscapes. Individual fronds of moss become tall trees. It’s really magical, and captures the human wonder contained in the smallest aspects of the natural landscape. Though I have no true favorites among Erickson’s pieces, I will say that I stared at “River of Gold” uninterrupted for nearly 5 minutes. The individual drops of water reflecting off of the golden leaves in the bottom most photo paired with the woody, dry mushroom gills of the top give the piece a sense of movement, energy, and awe. Erickson hopes to continue expanding this series periodically, with some new subjects in mind:

“I also want to try and capture small bugs… but it’s really hard to get panoramas with moving things. The software just doesn’t know how to splice the frames if something moves between multiple. I think it’s doable, though. I just need to get better at the technique.”  Erickson’s shows will remain in the Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery until Saturday, April 11.  Many of the pieces in the both showcases are available for purchase, reach out to Thomas Erickson (thomas.erickson@emu.edu) for more information.